


How To Be A Human 101 : Teacher- Hermione Granger

by amortentia_on_her_lips



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hermione giving a lesson, Important lesson, how to give a critique, i hope this type of fic is okay., please read and learn something thanks, teacher hermione
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-07
Updated: 2017-10-07
Packaged: 2019-01-10 02:13:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12289044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amortentia_on_her_lips/pseuds/amortentia_on_her_lips
Summary: Hermione has her friends help her teach an important lesson to the world.How to give a Critique, please read this and learn something. I've seen mean things being posted on people's work and they don't deserve that!!





	How To Be A Human 101 : Teacher- Hermione Granger

"Hello everyone, my name is Hermione Granger and I like licking cats and singing lullabies to books."

Rust colored curls shook in anger as a tall beautiful girl entered the room and stormed to the group at the front. "RON WEASLEY! I do not lick cats and I do not sing to books, get down from my podium this instant! I asked you to help me teach this class not to mock me!"

The red head shrunk noticeably as he got down, with a mumble he pointed at his giggling sister, "Ginny put me up to it." Hermione had nothing to say to this and glared at the siblings, effectively shutting them both up.

"Now that I'm here we can start! Hello and welcome to my first ever class! Today I will be teaching you all a very important lesson that needs to be stated! My name is Hermione Granger and I will be your teacher for this evening!"

Seats shuffled in the room as people took their seats, it was mostly Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors, but some annoyed Slytherins sat in the back after being forced to attend. Hermione nodded to the two identical boys who were working the lights, and the room dimmed, a spotlight falling on her as she began.

"Now, to start off our lesson, I would like to hear what you all think a critique is?"

The room filled with talking and Hermione nodded to a Slytherins. "It's a way to tell someone their work sucks."

Hermione sighed and nodded to a Hufflepuff, "It's the thing people write when they go see a bad movie!"

With a glare she nodded to a Gryffindor who looked ready to one up the Slytherins, "It tells people how whatever they are doing is wrong."

Shaking her head and letting the curls fall to her face she tried to hide her disappointment with a smile.

"A critique isn't a hate message, it isn't a way to say how much you hate something, AND it isn't a way to make yourself look better or more knowledgeable. 

"A critique is a way to give a creator a new way to look at their work, to grant more viewpoints and ideas that will help them make their work better. When an Author, Artist, Creator, whatever asks for a critique what they are asking for is you to help them improve their work.

They are one person, one mind, sometimes they miss things or can't see the bigger picture, and your critiques should help them achieve that, it should lead them in the right path to getting better, your critique should tell them how to make characters more interesting, how to further their plot and how to grow as a creator!"

A Slytherin's raised their hand and spoke without being called on. "But what if it's so bad that their is nothing they can improve? I mean seriously, if they are asking for critiques than they know themselves that it is bad!"

With a glare Hermione made the boy in green lean back in his seat and be quiet. She gave a soft smile and sighed, she looked at her helpers hoping they would show moral support but they all looked bored. 

"That isn't how you should go into making a critic, you should not start in that mind set, instead you should think:  
'No matter how bad the work is, this person made it because they enjoy it, they wanted to share something they worked hard on and are proud of!'  
No matter how bad the work is there will always be a redeeming quality that can be improved on, no matter how small! Your job as a reader and a commentator is to find that quality and use your own knowledge to show them how to make it shine!"

Hermione stood tall, she was finally getting to the topic she was excited for!

"You should always look at your criticism before you share your input and think,  
'Am I helping this person improve? Or am I just making them feel bad so that I look more important?'  
If your critique is telling someone to give up, delete their work and never try, than you are doing it wrong! In that case, you are just a bully! You are not just being 'harsh' and they are not just 'taking it bad!' You are hurting their feelings and making them feel hopeless!"

The girl looked into the oncoming light with a passionate flame in her eyes, she was furious and she was ready to show she was right.

"Let me tell you what a harsh critique is! A harsh critique goes over everything, character growth, plot growth, grammar, everything! A harsh comment will tell the author then and there all the flaws that need to be improved and how they should fix it!

"I am not saying you should lace your words with sweet nothings or heartfelt apologies, but what you should add, is the parts you thought worked!

Telling someone their full work is garbage, that it's not as good as someone else's, that their work is hopeless and they should give up, isn't a critique. All you are doing is making that person upset, hurting their feelings and keeping them from ever trying again in fear that they will never succeed!"

She looked to her friends who were wringing their hands and feeling bad, thinking of their harmful comments over the years.

"But enough of me ranting, let's show an example of a true harsh critique!

"As most of you will remember in my first year, Ron, Harry and I were in a Charms class together. At that time none of us were friends, but Ron was mispronouncing the spell: Wingardium Leviosa. 

"I at that time turned to him and gave my Critique, I'm sure you all know what I am talking about." The girl winked at the audience. "I gave him what most people like to call a 'Constructive Criticism' I showed him which way was the right way, and which was the wrong way. 

You would think the way I said it was harsh, and yes, it was, but in the end he learned the spell correctly did he not?" 

Ron blushed from root to tip and Ginny gave a great laugh as Hermione continued her lesson.

"Now, for a moment let's imagine that I had given Ron what some people claim is a 'Harsh Criticism,' what if at that time, I turned to Ron and said,  
'You are saying it wrong! And you are a pure blood, it's just sad and pathetic. I have heard Malfoy say it better than you, and I can say it better than you, you aren't emphasizing the right syllable and it's just awful, why are you even trying.'  
What do you think would have happened than?"

The blushing red head turned a glare to Hermione at the thought, "I would have punched you, even if you are a girl!"

Hermione hummed in acknowledgment.  
"Exactly, and then me, you and Harry would be at the bottom of a Trolls stomach right now!"The redhead shivered and the twins laughed at the thought. Hermione turned her attention back to the room. 

"Now I'm going to give you an example of what a real perfect critic should look like!

When I saw Draco yesterday, he was attempting to cook, it was going horribly and looked inedible. Instead of saying it was disgusting, I looked again closer and gave my advice, I said:

'Draco, the vegetables look like they have been cut well, and it looks to have taken a lot of hard work, and I can also see that the meet was left to marinate for long enough. The problems I do see is that you over greased the pan, which is a common mistake, but to fix it, try pouring a bit out in a glass, I also noticed that the burner is on to high, I would advise turning it down some in order to cook the meat all the way through. And though you are not at this step yet, you may want to consider setting out prepared plates and sauces ahead of time so the whole process is smoother.'

In this critic I got to all of the issues, I told him what worked, and I told him what didn't. He learned and he grew, and in the future he will be able to cook better because he was shown a criticism that actually taught him something and helped him succeed!"

Hermione smiled at her class.

"Do you see now? When you are leaving a critique, you need to show the creator that they can improve, that you can help them improve, if you cannot, why are you even commenting? 

"No one is actually stupid, no one is actually bad at something! No one starts out good at anything, we all need to take time to learn and grow. Knowledge comes from other people, we all use the people around us to grow. Practice makes perfect, but without someone else there, you may just continue to do the same thing over and over for millennia.  
We need critics to learn how to advance. 

Remember when you give a critique that you are showing this person how to advance and how to succeed, no matter how bad the work is, you are giving them the comment unselfishly in order to give them a bit of hope to get better!"

Hermione glanced at the clock.

"It seems my rambling has made our time short, and it's almost time to go, but for your homework, I want each and every one of you to go out, and leave a helpful, creative criticism, and show that creator that you care about them, that you understand their work is important to them, and that you want to help them succeed!"

She watched the class shuffle and called at the top of her lungs.

"ONE MORE THING! If you read a story, watch a show or go into something, after reading the tags and warnings, but still decide to advance, no one feels sorry for you. No one cares when you comment 'That was horrible I feel so gross, how could you write that. You are horrible!'  
Do you want to know why they do not care? It's because you saw the tags, you knew full well what you were getting into, you knew what you would see, and you did it anyway. 

"If someone went and watched all 7 seasons of Game of Thrones and then tried to complain that they were scared by the violence, I would have no sympathy since they knew full well from the start what they would be seeing. 

You decided to go in and read or watch that thing, so you cannot complain, if you know you cannot stand violence, simply DO NOT WATCH OR READ IT!"

The class shuffled out of the room quietly and Hermione slumped down into the teacher's chair with a sigh.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! Quick thing, I don't own Hermione Granger or any of the Harry Potter Characters, I'm simply using them in a way to show an important lesson that people don't seem to understand! All ownership goes to the rightful creator, JK Rowling and Warner Bros!
> 
> I would like to classify this as a fanfic with a moral, that will help people understand an important lesson! I read over AO3's terms and it seems this is allowed since I'm giving credit to the respective owner and using the character simply in a role play or fanfic type setting
> 
> I haven't been able to write in over a week since this has been weighing so heavily on my mind. I ended up deleting a work that I actually really enjoyed writing, simply because I got such a horrible comment that I can't stand to look at the work again...
> 
> I hope you don't mind how long this got, and all the little bits and bobs that are unimportant!


End file.
